Lessons from 'Prometheus' on Building an Effective Website

In the upcoming Alien prequel, Prometheus, it's 2073 and Weyland Industries is the largest company on the planet. But today's small business owners can learn a few lessons from the website that the movie's marketers have created for the fictional mega-corporation.

Concise copy. Bad business websites blather on and on, creating long, wordy pages. When reading online, people prefer quick, scannable information. The Weyland site has just a few short paragraphs on any one page, making the copy more impactful and more likely to be read.

Company timeline. An elaborate timeline covering 30 years of Weyland history gives quick, one-sentence summaries of all the company milestones. Such a page adds depth to the website of any business that's more than a year or two old.

Company snapshot. On a strong "About" page, Weyland quickly states where it is, how many employees it has, its headquarters location, and other vital statistics. I can't tell you how many small-business sites I've searched in vain for these kind of useful facts.

Visual cues. Weyland works in seven different industries. A small illustration has been created to represent each, making it easy to see at a glance what the company does.

Press releases. The site has a media archive of old press releases (at the moment, it's locked, likely until closer to film's June release date to avoid giving away the plot). Collecting releases and putting them on your site shows that your company has a history and gives media a chance to quickly scan through your highlights.

Multimedia. In the site's masterstroke, the marketing team has created a faux TED Talk the company founder "gave" when he started it in 2023. With the great reputation of TED Talks and the impact of video generally, this feature immediately gives the company credibility and makes the site more engaging. If you have any public speaking engagements, remember to have them taped for posting on your site.

Engagement. Under the guise of offering investment opportunities in "classified projects," the site invites visitors to "register" to get more information. Of course, this is more a marketing pull for the film itself, attempting to connect with fans on Twitter and Facebook.

What features make your business's website compelling? Let us know in the comments below.

Carol Tice

Carol Tice, a freelance writer, is chief executive of TiceWrites Inc. in Bainbridge Island, Wash. She blogs about freelance writing at Make a Living Writing. Email her at carol@caroltice.com.